


Something That Lasts

by TikolaNesla



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Alternate Universe - Mechanics, F/F, Useless Lesbians, graphic depictions of tfw no gf
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-14
Updated: 2018-12-14
Packaged: 2019-09-18 09:42:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,458
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16992603
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TikolaNesla/pseuds/TikolaNesla
Summary: Two women meet in the road, one alone, the other bored. A car, a coffee, and a sunhat bring them together.





	Something That Lasts

**Author's Note:**

> _Wishing your life away,_  
>  _Or longing for bygone days,_  
>  _Oh, won't you give me a fucking break?_  
>  _'Cause they won't come back,_  
>  _So give me something that lasts_  
>  ****  
> [-Present, Tense](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=721s0o_0Cvc)  
>   
> 
> I've dragged myself down (back down, actually) into EstMano, and I guess it resulted in this? This is the ficciest shit I've ever written but I had the idea and I ran with it. I'm a little stuck on PAG and DROOS at the moment (Pretend's still going strong, at least) so I thought I'd get something short done. There's no actual side ships, but there's slight NedRo/NedPort/both going on. Ned isn't even referred to by name but it's him.  
> TW for discussions of alcoholism, suicide and child abuse. It's mostly soft shit (for my standards), I just can't write without bullying an Estonian.
> 
> Names:  
> Evelin- Nyo Estonia  
> Lorenza- Nyo South Italy  
> Logan- Australia  
> Darcy- Nyo Hutt River  
> Charlie- Wy  
> Caterina- Nyo North Italy  
> Sebastiano- Seborga  
> Adelina- Nyo Seborga  
> Alin- Romania  
> João- Portugal  
> Céline- Monaco  
> Romolo- Rome

Evelin never quite got used to the traffic in Rome. Everything crawled to a standstill on Friday afternoons, leaving cars sitting in a line, sometimes for hours. It was worst in summer, when the tourists clogged up the roads even more and the sun turned her little blue Ford into a walk-in microwave. If she wasn’t so tired, she’d take a minute to laugh at her 18-year-old self for thinking Tartu was bad- she certainly had the time to- but mostly she wanted to get home, shower, make dinner, and fall asleep in front of Netflix. Instead, she was slowing to a halt in today’s delightful traffic jam, resigning herself to another long wait, and watching the sun slip lower in the sky, willing it to die out so that either she’d have a little cool around here or the earth would go with it. Probably the latter, from her understanding of things, but either would be nice.

The annoying thing was, usually this wasn’t an issue. She generally got out of work after all the traffic had died down. Maybe something was holding them up, road work or something. She craned her neck to check. Sure enough, the woman two cars in front of her was getting out of her Lamborghini to argue with the man in front of her, after having apparently just crashed into him. Neither seemed hurt at all, but from the looks of things, she was about to start throwing stuff. Evelin groaned. She didn’t want to interfere, but she wasn’t about to wait for these two to kill each other before getting home. As she cut her engine, she practiced the words in her head. Her Italian was just about fluent, but she was vividly aware of her accent and her tendency to trip up.

She opened her door, smoothed her t-shirt, and approached the two.

“-not my fault, you fat bastard!” the woman was screaming, “You were driving too slow! Take a fucking driving lesson, fuckwad!”

“You were the one tailgating me! What were you  _ doing _ ?”

Evelin cleared her throat. “Excuse me. Would you please settle down for a moment?”

“No the fuck I won’t!” she cried, “He stopped too fast!”

“I’m a mechanic,” she told them, with the same authoritative calm as one would say “I’m a doctor” to the companion of a heart attack victim. “We’re not far from where I work. I can get your cars fixed. Just stop yelling, please. It’s Friday evening. We’re all tired here.”

Both of them reluctantly stopped.

“Thank you.” 

She got her phone out of her pocket and called her shop up. As she arranged for them to get towed, since neither car was fit to drive, the man called some wife to let her know he’d be late. The woman, without anyone to fight, scowled at her suspiciously. Evie suspected she just wanted an argument to get into. With the same calm, she hung up her phone and looked back at her.

“Yes?”

“If I see you leave a  _ scratch  _ on Nicoletta…”

Evelin wanted to point out that she was the one who crashed “Nicoletta” into another car in the first place. Instead, she smiled reassuringly. “Your car will be good as new, signora.”

“It’s totalled!”

“It’s not. I can fix it overnight.” 

“Fuck off you can!”

Evelin had been told plenty of times in her life that she couldn’t do something, enough times for her to have formed a certain modus operandi. A girl in her choir back in Estonia once told her she couldn’t see her with tattoos, so she got the tiny outline of the Millennium Falcon inked on her wrist. When she cut her hair from her elbows to her shoulders, her mother said it looked better long, so she cut it all off. When she said she might want to go into engineering and some boy in her class who thought he was funny told her to stay in the kitchen, she resolved to become a mechanic, whatever it took. So when this little woman, with her thick dark hair trapped under her sunhat and perpetual scowl and dress that looked like it cost more than Evelin had in her whole bank account, told her she couldn’t fix her car overnight, she did the petty thing as ever. 

“I’ll do it. Drop by tomorrow morning. Nicoletta will be fine.”

The woman blinked. “Shit, really?”

“Of course. It’s my job.”

Evelin was maybe 90% sure she could manage it in a night, depending on the extent of the damage, but she didn’t necessarily want to. Still, as she took the cars into the garage, prying the woman away even as she insisted on staying with the force of a thousand helicopter parents, her spite gave her the energy she needed. She thought about the leftover lasagne in her fridge and soldiered on. 

As she changed into her overalls and got to work, her coworker Logan was just coming out. She got along with Logan, even if they weren’t exactly friends. That seemed to be her relationship with most people she knew in Rome. Still, she liked not being the worst Italian speaker in the room, and he liked being able to speak English with someone without feeling like an idiot for it.

“Are you still here?”

“I’m going straight to the airport from here so I’m getting shit done while I wait,” he explained, scrubbing oil off his hands, “Back already?”

“Yeah. Just thought I’d make a start on these.”

He wiped his hands on the grubby towel next to the sink. “Isn’t it getting a little late?”

“Maybe.” Evelin opened up the bonnet to inspect. “I’m trying to get it done for tomorrow. Driver said I couldn’t.”

He laughed. “Evie, you’re nuts.”

“Thanks for the extra incentive.”

“Don’t you have anything better to do?”

Evie didn’t reply, just shrugged and took a look at the engine.

“You do you, nerd.” He checked the time on his phone. “Shit, gotta run. I’m picking up my little sisters. Darcy and Charlie are staying a few nights. Haven’t seen ‘em in ages.”

Her smile wavered, but she forced it upright. “Sounds fun!”

Logan grinned and kicked open the door. “It will be. See you tomorrow!”

“See you!”

She worked late into the night, growing gradually more tired and hungry and grease-covered. She could understand why the woman was so protective of her car- it must have been expensive, and it was a damn good car as well- but by midnight, it was fixed and Evelin had decided she absolutely despised Nicoletta. She closed up the garage and drove her own modest and refreshingly unnamed car home.

She unlocked her flat and stepped inside. It was empty and cold and the lights were off. In her exhaustion, she flopped against the door instead of closing it with her hand and didn’t even switch on the kitchen lights as she took the Tupperware of lasagne out of her fridge. She ate it cold in the shower, then collapsed onto her bed, half-dry and still wearing a towel.

* * *

The next day, the woman came back for her car. She didn’t look as angry today, to Evelin’s relief- standoffish, but barely concealing the impressed little smile on her face.

“You did this in one night?”

Evie nodded modestly. “I suppose I did.”

“Good job.” She looked up at Evie for a moment. Evie kept her eyes on the car. “Hey, about yesterday, I was kind of a bitch, wasn’t I?”

Evie shook her head. “Not at all,” she lied, “It’s understandable. You went through a bit of a shock.”

“Do you mean that or are you being all customer service-y? Because you’ve obviously outdone yourself in that respect.”

“Thank you.”

The woman shrugged. She didn’t seem the type for apologies. “Whatever. Anyway I’m sorry about yesterday.”

“All part of the job,” she assured her, “That’s €400, please.”

The woman took a red leather wallet out of her handbag, rifled through it, and handed her a wad of notes. Evelin counted them. Along with her actual fee, the woman had thrown in an extra €50 note, which she handed back.

The woman shook her head. “It’s a tip.”

“Signora, I’m a mechanic, you don’t need to tip me.”

“Bullshit,” she scoffed, “Take it. You deserve it.”

She hesitated, then stuffed the notes into the pocket of her greasy overalls. “Thank you.” 

“Can I get your name so I know who to ask for next time? Can’t trust anyone to treat a car right these days. You’re a good mechanic, I wanna hold onto you.”

She blinked and adjusted her glasses, leaving a stain on her nose. “Really? Okay, ask for Evelin. Evelin Mets.”

“Lorenza Verga.” She opened her car and stepped inside. “See you around.”

Evelin couldn’t help but smile as she watched her drive off. 

* * *

Evelin was organising the screwdrivers after the last guy mixed them all up when Logan tapped her shoulder.

“Lady at reception wants you. About this tall, hair to her shoulders, big tits, you know her?”

Evelin leaned over to look through the reception area’s dirty windows. “Yeah, I know her.” She put one last screwdriver into the right slot and went out to meet her. Lorenza sighed dramatically on seeing her. “Evelin! Finally, someone competent! Something’s wrong with Nicoletta, could you have a look at her? She’s hurt again, I’m scared she’ll never run again. She was thumping and vibrating like crazy this morning.”

Evelin bit back a laugh. “It sounds like you have a flat tire, signora. I’ll get right on it. She’ll be good as new in about fifteen minutes.”

“What do I do until then?”

“Wait. We have a coffee machine if you want something to drink.”

Evelin got to work on the car, for the second time in a few weeks. The offending tire wasn’t just punctured, it had been slashed. There was a cut in the rubber the size of a kitchen knife. She wondered who Lorenza had pissed off to get her tires fucked up like that. Not that she blamed them- she didn’t dislike her as such, in fact she had to appreciate her tenacity, but she understood why one would want to slash her tires. As she worked, she entertained the thought. She did seem to live an interesting life. Some scorned lover or a crazed widow pursuing a vendetta against her didn’t seem unlikely to her at all. She glanced up from the wheel to look through the reception’s windows at her, maybe to find suggestions of some other reason one would have it out for her and Lorenza looked right back at her from over her polystyrene coffee cup. She blinked, as if being snapped out of a trance, and turned her head away. Evelin chuckled to herself and got back to the tires. 

Once it was finished, Lorenza reunited with her car and handed Evelin her fee. She stepped back and leaned on the car.

“Hey, in place of a tip, can I get you a drink?”

Evelin chuckled. “Signora, once again, I’m a mechanic. You don’t need to tip me.”

“For fuck’s sake- let me rephrase. When do you get off? I want to buy you a drink.”

Evelin blinked. It was an odd thing, being raised in Estonia and living in Italy. She wasn’t used to people being so affectionate. She’d see friends kissing each other’s cheeks in the street and couples cuddling on the bus and yes, people chatting to shopkeepers and waitresses. It would have been odd to ask your mechanic out for drinks back home, but maybe Italians were just like that.

When in Rome, as they say. 

Evelin wiped her hands on her overalls. “I get off in an hour. If you don’t mind waiting, that is. Is coffee okay? I don’t really drink.”

“Coffee’s perfect.” Lorenza looked up at her with an expression she couldn’t quite read. She wasn’t scowling, at least. “I can wait around.”

“Good. Yeah, see you later.”

* * *

 

She was perched on a sturdy pile of tires outside the garage. It was a warm evening, the June sun still high in the sky at 6pm, so she still had that sunhat on her head. She looked nice, she had to admit. She was that intimidating kind of good-looking that made Evelin feel a little underdressed in her rolled-up jeans and Star Wars t-shirt she’d been wearing under her mechanic’s overalls all day. 

“Took you long enough.”

“Sorry, sorry, I was-“

Lorenza snorted. “I’m kidding. C’mon, let’s go.”

She hopped off the tires and led the way, linking her arm with Evie. Her skin was warm and soft to the touch, and she was shorter so she could lean her head on Evelin’s shoulder as they walked. Evelin never wanted her to let go. It was an unfamiliar sensation, the warmth of another person. She didn’t quite have the self control to avoid leaning into it, holding her arm tight. Lorenza didn’t seem to mind.

“I know this fucking amazing cafe just around the corner. Pastries to kill a man for. That sound alright?”

Evelin nodded. “Sure, yeah. I could do with some good coffee.”

“I know you could,” she chuckled, “Whatever you have in that coffee machine, it’s not fucking coffee. Closer to piss if you ask me.”

Evelin nodded. “There’s certainly room for improvement, I have to admit.”

Lorenza glanced up at her. “You’re very polite, aren’t you?”

“I suppose. This isn’t my first language, that probably doesn’t help much.”

“Yeah, but you’re always in customer service mode. Loosen up.”

Evelin smiled. “That’s a fair criticism. I’m afraid I’m not very used to talking to people outside of work.” Shit, why did she say that?

“Why not?”

“I guess I never find the time to make friends.”

“Not even with other mechanics?”

“Meh. Some of them are nice, I’m just no good at talking.”

Lorenza nodded. “I feel that. I tend to get mad at people. I don’t mean to, I just fly off the handle, y’know?”

“Oh, you would hate working where I work,” Evelin chuckled, “It’s a frustrating job. I love it, I love fixing things, but you need to keep a cool head.”

“Uncooperative cars?”

Evelin nodded. “Very. But I’m trained for that. The worst bit is when you, an adult, with a degree in Engineering and like 5 years experience as a mechanic, get told by some guy, who is not a mechanic, how to fix a car.”

Lorenza winced.

“And,” she continued, “he’s talking slowly the whole time, because you have an accent, so of course it’s the polite thing to do to assume you have the linguistic skills of an infant.”

“How haven’t you slapped anyone?”

Evelin laughed, not noticing Lorenza’s scowl melt a little under the brim of her sunhat. “It takes all my self-restraint. I just zone out and wait for them to be done.”

“You have the patience of a saint. And a really fucking cute accent. Where are you from?”

“Estonia. I went to university in Tartu.”

They stopped in front of a cafe. There were black iron chairs set out on terracotta tiles and ivy crawling up the little brick walls. 

“What’s it like?”

“Colder.” Evelin held the door open for her, which made Lorenza smile.

“Well, aren’t you a gentleman?”

Evelin adjusted her glasses. “I just, uh-”

“It’s sweet,” she clarified.

“Oh. Thank you.” 

They stopped in front of a glass case full of pastries. “What do you want?”

“I’ll just have an espresso.”

“Wrong answer. You’re having an espresso and a sfogliatelle.”

“I-“

“It’s on me, don’t worry about it. Go find us a table.” Before she could protest, Lorenza ordered for them. 

Evelin found them a table by the window, with the view of the street right beside them.  When Lorenza came back with a tray of pastries and coffee, she held out her chair for her. 

“Signora.”

Lorenza sat down. “I feel like we’ve solved all the cliche questions about who pays for the date. I pay, but you hold the doors and chairs to balance it out.”

Date? No, no. Probably just a linguistic thing. Evelin wasn’t sure there was a more platonic word for it. Language was weird. “Like you said, I’m polite.”

Lorenza stirred a sugar cube into her latte. “You are. You don’t seem like a mechanic. You look and act like a butler.”

“Thanks? I think?”

“No offense. You’re just kinda-” Lorenza gestured vaguely. “-elegant. Polite.”

“None taken,” she chuckled, “Wouldn’t be the first time someone said that, in all honesty. Happened all the time back in Estonia, when I was studying.”

“How long have you been living here? Your Italian’s excellent.”

“Three years. I moved a little after I finished uni. I started teaching myself the language when I was about…” She thought for a second. “15? I’m still picking it up, honestly.”

“So you think in Estonian?”

“Yeah. I also speak German, English and Russian. You speak any other languages?”

Lorenza shrugged. “Learnt French and English at school. Why’d you move?”

Evelin gestured at her little espresso cup. “The coffee,” she lied. If Lorenza didn’t believe her, she didn’t show it.

“That’s fair. We have good coffee. And better weather too, I expect.”

“It’s certainly… warmer.”

“This time of year sucks, gotta admit. Still, I can’t handle the cold.”

“You’d love Estonia. We all have to have ice in our bodies, like those plastic bags you put on bruises, it’s how we’re still alive as a species.”

“Implying you’re a different species?”

“You said it, not me,” she laughed.

Lorenza laughed too. It felt nice, to make someone laugh. She had a pretty smile.

“You go back for Christmas and shit? Go see your family?”

Evelin wasn’t sure how to reply. She just shrugged. “Tallinn has a good Christmas market,” she attempted, but it wasn’t really an answer. “What’s your family like?”

“Big. I’m the oldest of four- two sisters and a brother. Caterina, Sebastiano, and Adelina. Seb and Lina are twins, both 16. We live with our grandpa and a few cousins and a weird uncle who does taxidermy. My dad ran off with his secretary when I was 10 and my mom died a while after so they’re not around. There’s also this guy who’s dating either my cousin Alin or my cousin João or both, I’m not sure but he’s been living with us for like a year and it feels weird to ask.”

Evelin blinked. “You all live together?”

“Yep. Gigantic house. They’re all fucking awful.” Despite her complaining, there was something loving in the way Lorenza rolled her eyes.

“I wouldn’t know how to keep track.”

“I’ve figured out the trick. It’s called “don’t even fucking try”. What’s yours like?”

“Smaller.” She was deflecting, but what else was she to say? “What do you do?”

“I don’t really have a job,” she admitted, “Since I live with my family, I don’t exactly need the money, and I’m not interested in anything enough to work at it without needing to. I have a lot of spare time.”

“You’re really not interested in anything?”

Lorenza shrugged. “I used to paint. Sorta lost interest, you know? I try hobbies from time to time, but eventually it’s just doing stuff for the sake of doing stuff.”

“So what do you do?”

Lorenza shrugged again. “Whatever.”

They fell into a slight silence. How was this weird hole to be dug out of? Feelings made Evelin confused. 

“Your car.” Ah, yes. The one thing she could comfortably talk about for hours. 

“What about her?”

“Did your tires get slashed?”

Lorenza blinked. “I, uh-“

“I don’t mean to pry. Just, your tire was slashed.”

“Cat,” she blurted.

“What?”

She gestured vaguely. “Argued with Caterina. It got out of hand. You know how siblings are. It’s all settled now.”

“That sounds bad.”

“Siblings. You know how it is.”

Evelin just nodded. She did. Sort of. 

“Basically, I borrowed her shoes and the heel broke but that was  _ after _ I took them, so it was her who broke it, and she was like, “why did you break my shoes?”, all angry, and I was like, “you broke it, it’s not my fault your shoes suck” and long story short, she slashed my tires, but I broke her favourite mug, so it’s all good now.”

“Sounds like you two have quite the rivalry.”

“Tell me about it. You got siblings?”

Evelin hesitated. “I have a few cousins. Two. Dániel and Tino, they’re nice.” That wasn’t a lie. She never said she didn’t have any siblings. 

“You talk much?”

“From time to time. Mostly Skype, they live in Hungary and Finland. I’m the youngest, so they can be protective, but I’m also their only impulse control.” 

“If only the Verga family had an impulse control.”

“If you’re saying that,” Evelin pointed out, “You’re the impulse control.”

“We’re fucked, then. You done?”

“I am. Are you?”

Lorenza stood up, pulling a red handbag onto her shoulder. “Yeah, let’s go.”

When they stepped out onto the street, the sun was bright in Evelin’s eyes, slipping over the horizon right ahead of them. It was just the right amount of warm, a golden summer evening, when the sun just starting to turn pink. It hit windows and cars and the stone walls of buildings. It hit Lorenza’s hair, flowing out from her hat, turning reddish-brown to copper. She caught her squinting at the sunlight and immediately reached up to put her sunhat onto her head. Her fingers grazed the back of her neck as she pulled it down. 

“Better?”

“Better.”

They walked in comfortable silence for a while. Evelin found herself wondering as they walked if it was possible to get drunk off a woman’s hand holding her arm, with her long nails touching the inside of her elbow. She felt a bit dizzy. Maybe she needed to get out more.

She was so lost in her thoughts that for a moment she didn’t register her breaking the silence. 

“I like your Falcon.”

“Sorry, what?”

Lorenza gestured to her wrist. “Your tattoo.”

She turned her arm to let her see it properly. The Millennium Falcon, maybe an inch in diameter, took flight just below the palm of her left hand. Just below it, no smaller than her pinky fingernail, were the letters “e.m.” in lowercase sans serif. A newer addition.

“Who’s-“

Evelin put her arm down, into the pocket of her jeans. “Nobody.”

Lorenza didn’t question further.

“Do you have any?”

She shook her head. “Not my thing.”

“You’re intimidating enough without having tattoos as well. No offence.”

“None taken. That’s my aim.”

“And how tall are you?”

Lorenza snorted and elbowed her. “Fuck off.”

“I’m teasing. Don’t worry, you’re terrifying. Surprisingly friendly, though.”

“Am I?”

“Well, by Estonian standards. Not many people invite their mechanics out for coffee.”

“Yeah, well, you’re not many mechanics.” She stopped at Nicoletta’s side. “Hey, give me your arm.”

A little baffled, Evelin put her arm out for her. Lorenza rifled through her handbag and got out a pen. The pen tickled Evelin’s skin as she scrawled something down, just below “e.m.” and the Falcon.

Without another word, she kissed Evelin’s cheek, ducked into the driver’s seat and drove away. All Evelin could do was stare at the number she’d just written on her arm. It wasn’t until she was halfway home that she realised she was still wearing that hat.

* * *

 

After work the next day, Evelin knocked at Lorenza’s door, her hat dangling delicately but firmly from her hand. She’d seen something almost identical for about €5, but she guessed Lorenza had paid more for it. Her house was ridiculous, a sprawling villa with pillars and porch lights and flashy cars- Nicoletta included- parked out front.

Instead of Lorenza, a barrel-chested man with curly salt-and-pepper hair answered the door. He was either 50 or 80. She wasn’t sure- Italians always seemed to age well.

“Can I help you?”

“Uh, sorry, does Lorenza live here? She left her hat with me. She gave me this address.”

The man grinned. “Of course, of course, come in.”

“Oh, I only need to drop it off. I hate to be trouble, signor.”

“No trouble at all! I’ll put some snacks out. Do you want coffee? Tea?”

“Oh, no, really, I-“

“A glass of wine, maybe? Come on, I insist.”

Behind the man, she saw a pair of teenagers sizing up their guest. Sebastiano and Adelina, she guessed. The twins.

“I mean, I suppose I could have a coffee. Not for long, I promise.”

“Excellent!” As she stepped inside, he patted her back hard enough to break her ribs. “Renza! Your friend’s here!”

She heard her shout from upstairs. “Who?”

The man turned to her.

“Oh, sorry, I’m Evelin.”

His eyebrows shot up. “Oooo, we’ve heard a lot about you. It’s your little mechanic, Lorenza!”

Evelin swore she heard her drop something. She thundered down the stairs. “She’s not my little  _ anything,  _ grandpa! She's average size! Shut the fuck up!”

She couldn’t help but smile. "Your hat.” She held it out for her. 

“Oh, thanks.” She took it off her and put it on her head, adjusting it so that her fringe peeked out at the brim.

Lorenza’s grandpa led them into a big living room, with several sofas and armchairs and a big coffee table covered in rings. There were posters and paintings and murals on the walls and a taxidermied bird wearing a top hat on the mantelpiece. Every chair and sofa had throw pillows and blankets scattered around haphazardly, some bright, some faded, but all of them mismatching. It struck Evelin as a room well lived in.

“I’ll leave you two alone. Make yourself at home, Evie.” Lorenza’s grandpa disappeared into the kitchen. She could have sworn she saw him wink at Lorenza, but it may have been her imagination. She threw herself onto the couch and Evelin politely sat next to her on the very edge of the cushion.

“Sorry about grandpa. I don’t know what he’s on about.”

“He said he’d heard a lot about me. Good things, I hope?”

She crossed her arms defensively. “I-I didn’t, like… I mean, Lina was being nosy, that’s all.”

“About me?”

“Forget it. How’ve you been?”

“As per. How’s Nicoletta?”

“Thankfully uninjured. For once. I think you worked your magic on her.”

“Or maybe you’re learning to drive,” she teased.

“Oh, shut the fuck up, I’m an excellent driver.”

“Sure, that’s why you came to see me twice in a month.”

Lorenza scowled. “Fuck you!”

“Sorry, sorry. I’m sure you just had a little bad luck.”

“And a bitch of a sister.”

Adelina peeked through the doorway indignantly. “Hey! What did I do?”

“I’m talking about Cat, dumbass!” Lorenza threw a cushion at her, which Adelina ducked.

“What did she do?”

“Mind your fucking business!”

Adelina stepped away from the doorway and yelled up the stairs. “Cat! What did you do?”

A third voice- Caterina, presumably- yelled down the stairs. “WHAT?”

“WHY’S RENZA PISSED WITH YOU?”

“SHE’S RENZA, THAT’S WHY!”

A third voice joined them, a woman’s. “Will you stop yelling, please?”

“SORRY, CÉLINE!” shouted both sisters at the same time. Lorenza turned her head to Evie and rolled her eyes, which made her stifle a laugh. It was quite sweet, really. The Verga sisters seemed nice.

Their grandpa came in with a pot of coffee and a few chipped mugs. “Leave the girls be, Lina. Come help me with the snacks.”

“Signor, I don’t need-“

He cut Evelin off. “Call me Romolo, please! Lina! Put out the focaccia, come on! Help yourself to coffee, both of you.”

Adelina and her grandpa- Romolo- busied themselves with putting out glasses and bottles of wine and what definitely surpassed “snack” territory and was quickly easing into the realm of “meal”, leaving Evelin and Lorenza a moment to catch one another’s eyes and for Lorenza to mouth a quick “sorry about them”. Evelin just smiled and poured a cup of coffee.

She wasn’t used to this much chaos, but she found it quite nice. Bit by bit, Lorenza’s cousins and siblings and weird taxidermy uncle filled up the room, attracted almost magnetically to the snacks. Evelin quickly realised why they’d had to put out so much. She found herself squeezed between Lorenza and a man with curly hair, who was bitterly arguing with a man who looked so different from the rest of the family that Evelin could only assume he was the man who was dating either Alin or João. João, who looked like the man with curly hair but with a ponytail, was sitting across the man’s lap, and Alin, a skinny little guy with earrings shaped like feathers, was sat on the floor with his head on his knee. A girl about the same age as Sebastiano and Adelina with twin ponytails was lying on her back next to Alin, knitting something badly. Sebastiano was sitting cross-legged in an armchair, chewing on a taralli, with his twin sister leaning over his shoulder on the arm, apparently talking him through texting someone.

“How many heart eye emojis, do you think?”

Adelina shrugged. “How many are you feeling?”

“10?”

“Less.”

“But I’m feeling 10 emojis,” he protested, “I mean, look at her!”

“10, then.”

He grimaced, taking another taralli. “Is that needy, though?”

“Seb, you  _ are _ needy.”

“She doesn’t need to know that!”

Evelin watched them for a long time. Lorenza leaned over her to join the curly haired man’s argument, spilling wine on her jeans, but she barely noticed. She watched the twins talking about this girl, and something felt deeply familiar. She looked around, at Alin and the knitting girl sharing some joke, Romolo pouring a glass of wine for a woman with a plait, Lorenza and the curly haired man and the man dating Alin or João or both arguing over who knows what. She watched the family in their natural habitat, drinking and laughing and fighting. It was chaotic and loud, cousins and sisters, uncles and grandpas, twins talking twins through texting girls.

In that moment, she wanted two things more than anything in the world. One was impossible, the other right in front of her, held casually in Lorenza’s hand. She wanted her brother and she wanted a drink, so she got up and rushed out of the room, out of the front door, where the sky was turning black and the lights on the porch were turning on. 

She sat on the steps and tried to breathe, tried not to think about her parents or alcohol or  _ fucking hell _ , about Eduard. But the more she tried not to think about him, the more she did. She looked at her wrist- the Millennium Falcon, “e.m.”, one tattoo she’d got with him at her side, holding her hand as the needle went in, another tattoo she’d got alone. 

She didn’t look up when she heard footsteps behind her, or when Lorenza sat down next to her on the steps.

“Are you okay?” The tenderness in her voice caught her off guard. She put her arm around her waist.

Evie lifted her glasses, wiped her eyes, and nodded. “Fine.”

“No you aren’t. What’s up?”

“Nothing.”

“You’re crying, babe. C’mon.”

She shook her head. “It’s dumb.”

“Did you just get overwhelmed?”

Evelin nodded. No “just” about it. “Yeah. Yeah, I’m not used to big family things.”

“I get you. D’you wanna go back inside?”

Evie shook her head. She didn’t like the thought of people seeing her like this, especially people who’d worry. Romolo seemed the type to worry. A lot of them did.

“Then come sit in Nicoletta. She’ll take care of you.”

Despite herself, Evelin stifled a laugh. “You’ve been drinking. We’re not driving anywhere.”

“I know, I know. She’s just nice to sit in sometimes, y’know? Get away from it all.”

Deciding she may as well humour her, Evie got up and into the passenger seat, Lorenza next to her. 

“I like sitting here. I get what you mean, getting all fucking overwhelmed with that lot. I lose my temper at them. I love them to death, but we fight like nobody’s business.”

Evelin didn’t reply for a moment. Lorenza looked over, touching her hand gently.

“There’s a bottle of water and a packet of tissues in the glove box.”

Evie took them out. She took a long drink of water, then took her glasses off to wipe her eyes. She left them in her lap. “Thank you.”

“No problem.”

“Not for the water, just… thank you. I haven’t had a friend since I moved here.”

Lorenza held her hand properly, giving it a gentle squeeze. Evie swallowed. She tried to avert her eyes, but she could feel her gaze, see her frown from the corner of her eye. It felt a little pathetic, staring at her knees in the passenger seat, so she glanced up, just to reassure her she was okay. She was close enough for even her short-sighted eyes to see, though everything behind her was a blur.

Lorenza ran her thumb in circles on the back of Evelin’s hand. “I’ve got you.”

And then it all came out.

“I had… in Estonia, I had a twin brother. Eduard Mets.” She tapped the tattoo on her wrist. “E.M. Our parents were assholes. They were assholes to me, but I was the favourite. Like, they pushed me and pushed me, but Eduard just couldn’t do anything right. It hurt me, but Eddie… I mean, they really fucked him up. I think he resented me a little, I wouldn’t blame him. But we always had each other’s backs. Us against them. We moved out as soon as we could, lived together, went to uni together in Tartu. And things were okay, but we hadn’t got out of the whole family thing unscathed. Him especially. He had his other problems, I think his mental health was a little fucked even putting our parents aside, but…” Evie took a long drink of water. She held it in her mouth for a moment, then swallowed. “He killed himself a little after we graduated.”

“Shit.”

“Shit,” she agreed. She didn’t tell her about that morning she found him, dropping her coffee cup on the floor at the sight, smashing it to pieces. Or that cold little funeral where she refused to look her parents in the eye. Where they didn’t even try to make things right. “I handled it badly. I started drinking. A lot. Stopped going to work, stopped talking to people, just… stopped. I almost went the same way myself. And at some point, I realised I had nothing for me in Tartu. I’d pushed myself away from all my friends. They didn’t seem to mind. I didn’t have any family left. I got fired from my job. So I took the first flight out of there. My Italian was pretty sub-par, but I picked it up, got myself sober, got a flat, got a job. It’s all… fine, I guess. But it’s hard. I’m still kind of adjusting. He was like a part of me. I mean, he and I shared everything.”

Lorenza leaned over and wrapped her arm around her waist. “Fucking hell, Evie. I’m sorry.” Her voice cracked a little. 

“It was… well, I guess family makes me a little wobbly. Especially big happy ones like yours. But it was Sebastiano and Lina, I think. I don’t know, I just thought about me and Ed, and…” She trailed off, tracing circles on Lorenza’s back. 

“I know, babe. It’s okay.”

“I never told anyone all that. Never really had anyone to tell.”

“You’ve got me,” she whispered, lips soft on her neck. 

Evelin exhaled slowly. “I’ve got you.”

Lorenza pulled away to look at her and Evie looked right back, hand rested where her neck met her shoulder. She hadn’t noticed how much she tended to avert her eyes until she found herself face to face with them. They were pink from crying. She looked much softer without her glasses on. More vulnerable, too. Evie’s hand came away from her collarbone to touch her face, her thumb on her cheek and her fingers behind her ear. Lorenza turned her head and pressed her lips against her palm. That at least got a smile out of her. From inside, they heard Caterina laugh.

Evelin turned her head, dropping her hand. “You wanna go back in?” 

“Do you?”

She shook her head.

“Me neither.”

The gear shift dug into Lorenza’s belly as she tilted her head and leaned against her, her arm slipping around Evelin’s shoulders. She was close enough to feel her breathing. Evelin closed the gap. She smelt of motor oil and her lips were a little chapped. The hair on the back of Lorenza’s neck stood on end as her rough fingers traced over it, calluses grazing her skin. She always seemed to have cold hands. 

There was a remnant of her lipstick on Evelin’s lips as she pulled away. She looked golden in the lights of the porch, glowing and soft. She’d stopped crying, but her eyes were still red. She blinked owlishly.

“Nice.”

Lorenza stifled a laugh. “Nice?”

“Yeah. Nice. Your lips are nice. Shut up. I haven’t kissed many people.” That little self-effacing smile made Lorenza’s heart skip a beat. She hadn’t let go of her hand.

“Hey, Evie, do you promise not to judge me if I say something kinda… judgeable?”

Evelin nodded.

“Cat didn’t slash my tire. I did. I wanted to talk to you but I couldn’t think of a good reason to go to a mechanic, so I made one.”

Evelin looked at her strangely, and Lorenza worried she was about to call her a creep- which would probably be called for.

“We did argue, though.” Now that she was saying it out loud, Lorenza wondered why she thought this would make it better. “I did smash her mug.”

Evelin shook her head. She turned her head to give Lorenza a strange look, but her plans changed the moment they met eyes. They both burst into laughter for a full minute, laughing until they were out of breath with tears in their eyes and leaning on each other for support. They sat like that a while in silence. Evelin put her glasses back on, then took Lorenza’s hand again.

“You feeling better?”

She nodded.

“Wanna go back in?”

“I’d rather stay out here. With you. If you want to, that is.”

Lorenza turned her hand over to interlace their fingers. “I’d like that.”

**Author's Note:**

> As a bit of clarification, have some not-names.  
> The man dating either Alin or João- Netherlands  
> The knitting girl- Nyo Moldova  
> The woman with a plait- Monaco  
> The curly haired man- Spain  
> Taxidermy uncle- An OC I use for Romania and Moldova's dad sometimes. His name's Iacob.


End file.
